"washington journal" continues.

host: welcome back. this morning we have author and historian alex kerkshaw. welcome. guest: great to be with you. host: this morning we are discussing the history and significance of the medal of honor because today is national medal of honor day. let's start there. tell us about the medal of honor. what is it? how is it awarded? guest: it was designated national medal of honor day in 1990 and it was to bring recognition and appreciation of the nation military award which is the medal of honor which is being given to americans since 1863. today there are i believe 66 living recipients. it is the highest award you can receive for showing great courage in the united states

military. host: liza day needed -- why is a day needed and how does national medal of honor day differ from a veterans day or memorial day? guest: it is designed to bring the nation's attention to the medal of hon and the ripient and to appreciate those living recipients and those americans have given their lives, in many cases, to receive that medal. it celebrates th best politics of those who sve there's country. it is supposed to highlight their selfishness and courage americans have shown through many wars. host: we want to get through your calls. we are going to be talking about national medal of honor day. we want any feedback you have for reflections. if you are in the eastern or central time zone, 202-748-8000.

mountain and pacific time zones, 202-748-8001. if you are a veteran or the family member of a veteran, your number is 202-748-8002. we will get to. we were showing medal of honor fax. -- facts these are a few, first awarded 160 years agooday when the first medal of honor was awarded. the total number of medal of honor awarded is 3535. we have total recipients 2516. living recipients, 65 from the congressional medal of honor society. let's start with that.

what is the process. who gets to decide who receives a medal of honor and what are the criteria? guest: today there are two ways you can receive the medal of honor. through the chain of command being you have when you are in combat. which is conspicuous, which shows extraordinary courage. in your own chain of command will go through a process where your recommended for it. the other way you can receive the medal is through a congressman recommending you be receive the medal. host: let's your recommended either by your china command or member of congress, who ultimately decides? guest: a gust chain of command in military, it is a process,

very detailed and a great deal of action paid. it is rigorous and it has gotten more rigorous over the years. host: is that because there are applications, a lot of people vying for medal of honor's? guest: i do not think anybody vies for medal of honor's. there is bipartisan legislation being produce by democrats and republicans to increase the contention of medal of honor recipients. i think it is around you receive if you have earned the medal of honor. recipients receive $100,000 a year. you might think that might encourage people to go get the medal of honor but people do not set out to win.

did not set out to win the medal of honor. if you look back in world war ii, they had no idea they would receive the medal of honor. in many cases, they did not know what they are doing. it was an extensive reaction. an interview several years ago the oldest living medal of honor recipient who was in france before the 1943 and a grenade landed next to him and extensively he jump of the grenade. he said to me, i did not think of what i was doing. it was instinct. a moment defined his life. he said he did not set out to win. host: let's go to the phone lines to get questions or comments from our viewers. i want to remind you of the lines are eastern and central time zones, 202-748-8000. mountain and pacific, 202-748-8001.

veterans or family members of veterans we want you to call us at 202-748-8002. our first caller is john in brooklyn, new york on the veterans line. what is your question or comment? caller: my question is thanks to c-span for giving everybody a chance to express themselves. i am a vietnam veteran. i was brought into this service in 1968 and i want to speak on the presidents and the racism i face after being drafted. i want this gentleman to tell me what he thinks about the racism and remorse blacks get and do not get. guest: it is an interesting question. i would go back to world war ii and talk about that for a little bit before coming to the present

day. the most recent recipient of the medal of honor was a black soldier, special forces in vietnam who in the last couple of weeks received the medal of honor from the president, making that 66 living recipients of the medal of honor. back in world war ii, black americans served with great courage and of the clinton presidency, seven of them, only one was alive, was giving the medal of honor. i think that is decades way too late but there have been efforts over the years to recognize american minorities who are not recognize -- who were not recognize. most recently in the case of mr. davis, there has been the paperwork was conveniently lost

and some kind of -- i think were getting a lot better in the last 30 years. lots more efforts have been made to recognize minorities weapon overlooked in the past. host: do you know statistically with the breakdown in? i would assume most recipients are white males but what is the diversity? guest: i do not know. this could be interesting to look into that. of course, giving the fact that most medal of honor's since the civil war were earned in world war i and world war ii most of them would've been white males. host: let's go back area that first medal of honor in 1863. tell us about the first guy to get the award. guest: what is interesting is

that 40% of all medal of honor recipients date back to the civil war. when we talk about the medal of honor there never waiting going back to the civil war -- overweighting going back to the civil war. if you look back to world war ii, the medal of honor -- some people says it is way too many medal of honor's were given during the civil war. in 1917, the only woman to have received the medal of honor -- in 1917, over 900 given during the civil war were rescinded. it was thought that they were given out far too easily. host: we are going to get to that. let me get to some cause. john in illinois.

what is your question or comment? caller: good morning. i grew up with a fellow named harvey. he was awarded the medal of honor from a sacrifice in vietnam. a fellow from east chicago, indiana that was awarded the medal of honor for jumping on a hand grenade in vietnam. i have a particular dose of survivor's blessing. i read many books by medal of honor recipients for inspiration in my life. those kinds of fellows and women have led extraordinary lives. you talk about those medal of honor recipients. my wife's cousin was on the hilltop with a fellow from southern illinois.

those men are all extraordinary examples i try to abide by and try to climb the mountain those men have climbed and god bless their all in heaven right now and they are looking down at us and mr. e talking about the middle -- and you keep talking about the medal recipients. emilio has three beautiful granddaughters out there that can continue. a heritage man from america. god bless him. this is the greatest country on earth. get the next caller in. talk about the books that the medal of honor recipients right. they are very inspirational.

i'm going to keep off-line. god bless america. host: we appreciate your service. he mentioned books. are there a lot of books written by medal of honor recipients? guest: yes and often bestsellers. especially from the iraq and afghanistan wars. i have written a book about world war ii medal of honor recipients yes they are great narratives. they are very inspiring. host: i know you have written several books. a true story of ultimate courage and survival in world war ii. that is alex book about world war ii medal of honor recipients. that last caller mentioned about serving alongside and it seemed

like it is still us a sense of pride and patriotism. is that something you find when people learn about medal of honor recipients that it does instill something in them a drive? guest: it is hard to find a better example of an all aspiring americans. these are people who are prepared to give their lives for others. we have to remember since world war ii the majority of recipients received a medal's mis-c -- post office there is s very impressive. these are young americans who often found a cause that was far greater and were repaired at any second to give their lives for others for their fellow americans.

they did not talk about politics. there are not divided in any way. there were united in the service of the service of their country trying to defend and protect freedom and that is something we should all be inspired by, especially today. host: let's get to miss mary walker the first and only woman to receive the medal of honor. what do you tell us about her? guest: it is interesting story. it is controversial for several reasons. she served during the civil war, volunteered. she was not part of the military. she was a civilian. she was taken to and held by confederates for several months and received the medal in 1865. in 1917 she was the only one to ever receive the highest reward for honor in this country's history. sadly in 1917 over 900 metals

given during the civil war were rescinded. people thought they were given to easily and they did not deserve them. her meadow was rescinded. she was very old at this time. she refused to turn her meadow she were the meadow with great pride. sadly she died. thinking the medal had been rescinded. you jump 477 during the administration -- you jump forward to 1977 and they were viewed her case and it was an rescinded. the medal was recognized as she is to this day the only woman to ever receive the medal of honor. host: the 3500 number, 900 were

rescinded but it includes miss mary walker? guest: yes. host: harry in georgia. caller: thank you c-span. i appreciate it. i text you all the time anyway. this is a great gust you have. i want to ask, i have a family history where -- of abolitionists. the first black soldier to win the medal of honor was from new bedford massachusetts. i have the honor of having a family who raise money when he came home to purchase his mother from a slaveholder in north carolina and bring her home so that she could be with her son.

i'm wondering if you know this story. i'd like to hear about it. i will put my tv on and take your answer off-line. guest: i do not know this story but i would like to hear more. maybe you could tell us. caller: ok. this family of snow, it goes way back. at the time -- actually on cotton mills in the north and started out as a welding family. that was new bedford was the center of that is where all the oil came from. it was a hugely successful industry. these were all abolitionists

going way back. i forget the gentleman's name who won the medal of honor but -- host: sergeant william carney? caller: yes, that sounds right. mostly for keeping the flag-waving during the battle. it was my family who went from being cotton mill owners and then bankers and eventually but anyway they purchase his mother and brought him home -- brought her home to new bedford to be with him. host: thank you so much. i'm going to read out a little bit more about sergeant william carney. this is from the department website.

if you stats. this is from 2017. at the time this article was written in 2017 there had been 3748 service members who had received the medal of honor. at the time, 88 have been black. it says, the first black recipient of the reward, william carney who earned the honor for protecting one of the united states greatest symbols during the civil war, the american flag. it does say in the first paragraph, carney was born into slavery in virginia in 1840. his family was granted freedom and moved to massachusetts where carney was eager to learn and got involved in academics despite laws that banned blacks from learning to read and write. you guys can learn more. the medal of honor website is

very comprehensive. that is the congressional medal of honor society. cmohs.org where you can look up every medal of honor recipient and find out more about them. i am finding this website super interesting just to our conversation today. to the phone lines and to talk to another collie. dave in michigan. caller: good morning. i want to speak about the recognition. these people talking about john wayne and popularity suite here -- we hear. i would ask you a question.

-- i want to ask you a question. is very fine line between recognition and sacrifice -- is there a fine line between recognition and sacrifice? there is -- there is indigenous people. are they recognized? or is there a line when consider that as being a different type of a division for recognition? i would take your answer off of the air. i think you for being loyal. thank you. guest: it is a good question. when i look at what i think about vision i wrote about,

45th infantry division and when they left in united states in 1942 around 12,000 men, there are 1500 native americans. there is no larger division that had a large number of native americans. they came from 30 tribes. the 45th division had four native americans that are the medal of honor. i think what is more interesting is this idea of how you could recognize? -- how do you get recognized? who sees you perform an act for which then you will receive a medal of honor? i've been fortunate to speak to several medal of honor recipients. several confirmed with me people say the real heroes are the ones that are lying in grace all over europe from world war ii.

so many people. they often point out their actions were never witness. your action has to be seen to for you to have an eyewitness testimony and go through the recommendation process. there were countless cases and not just in world war ii of people's actions who were never seen. there were killed for anyone to see what they had accomplished or the men around them were killed. i think it is very interesting how people end up becoming recognize. for example, omaha beach, june 6, 1944 there are only four medal of honor recipients of that action. 900 americans killed on that beach. every man was a hero. some say every man that landed on that beach should've earned the medal of honor. gains of these debates about -- get into these debates. it gets very interesting. host: we mentioned it briefly

but recently earlier this month president biden awarded the medal of honor to army special forces colonel harris davis based on his service in vietnam. we are showing a little video -- a little bit of video from the ceremony. can you tell us a little bit more about colonel davis and why he was recognized? guest: this is a remarkable individual going back to 1965 and 19 are a long battle and he was responsible for -- 19 hour long battle and he was responsible for saving members lives. he was sadly not recognize at the time. came across one report where a fellow veteran set the recommendation had been conveniently loss.

i would describe it as being somewhat and just he has not been recognized but he has now been recognized and this is one of the wonderful things about the process of recognition. you can revisit these cases. it is difficult. it takes a long time. in this case 1965 when he should have received the medal. thankfully he is alive. he's alive to be recognize in the white house. host: i want to talk to you about the process but i want to make sure our viewers know you can look at our c-span archives either on our website or our app because a lot of these medal of honor ceremonies are available for you to watch including colonel davises and those over the years. our c-span video library is another good resource for medal of honor recipients.

how long does it normally take, not when your application is lost, but i was looking and i was so surprised looking on the medal of honor society website and there are recipients from the war in iraq, the war in afghanistan. which are relatively recent. what is the normal process? how long does it normally take someone is nominated? guest: it takes a lot longer today than it used to. as he world war ii you might perform the act in a couple of months later he would receive the medal. immediately towards the end of world war ii he would be pulled off of the line. debt heroes -- dead heroes having received the medal of honor was not useful for the federal government.

the limit -- if you were to perform an act today, you would have -- the process would have to end within two years in the you would have to receive the medal within five years. because the medal of honor is no small thing. there are so few people alive today who can wear that highest of honors the process has become more rigorous. it takes a while. on average it takes at least a year before you stand the chance of receiving the medal. in most cases, it takes longer. host: let's take another caller. dana in arkansas. you have veterans in your family? dana, you are on. turn down your television a little bit.

all right. i think we do not have dana. we will move on to shane in michigan. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to ask, is there any way to tell how many more recipients there may be of the medal? is there some type of count? the second question would be do you think it is possible the medal could be a thing of the past? with mailers vehicles and -- manless vehicles and such? is it possible we could know that? guest: there is a specific list. you mentioned the congressional medal of honor society which is detailed. it is great for educators to because it has a lot of wonderful information. there an up-to-date detailed list.

i think it is a variation question about whether in 50 years time -- interesting question about whether it will be any human beings around to earn becoming -- to earn the medal of honor. this raises the issue of how are we going to wage future wars. is he going to be done through ai? are we going to have real human beings in combat? there are two recipients from the war in afghanistan. it is not many. if you look at the ages of the living recipients of the medal of honor, not surprisingly most of them are from vietnam. god forbid we enter into a war like vietnam war again, but that would be the main opportunity to

have more living recipients of the medal of honor. i hope we're going to have less and less medal of honor recipients because i hope we are not engaged in such horrible terrible wars that take so many lives. you have to think about this. the more recipients of the medal of honor we have alive, the more wars we are involved in. the more people who are dying giving their lives for their country. in 10-20 years time my hope is there be few living recipients because we would not be engaged in so much conflict. we will be negotiating our way through. host: for the record, i counted for the war on terror for iraq and afghanistan, i counted 28 total. i'm not sure if all of them are still with us.

john in virginia. where is your question or comment? host: can you hear me caller: c? guest: yes. caller: i was listening to you on the radio. i have met many of medal of honor recipients. these are individuals who are average. they are the wrong place at the right, did the right thing. roy who died. yvette had an opportunity to talk to him too. i have met recipients in person. two thirds of the medal of honor recipients are killed. did you know that? guest: since the second world war. caller: i would like to contact

you somehow. how do you spell your last name? kerkshaw. caller: you have to understand something. i started out in november 1983. i'm so in the military today as the civilian. there are certain regulations like army regulations is a good job about requirements. now you have to get your congressman or congresswoman to process you and they have to pass legislation for the bill. did you know that? guest: yes, it is very difficult.

caller: i have worked with victoria. i've been in their museum. have you been to their office in yorktown? guest: no, i haven't. caller: you have to go. go meet victoria. she is the executive director. some of the things i wish i could talk to you all day on these matters and i spent years in the military. i never got to vietnam. i never got to operation deaf storm. i finally got to a war zone in iraq. i understand these things. wars help. these guys come up with a date be recognized. the medal of honor only cost $48 for the army. thanks for the navy it is $42. host: we're going to have to move on.

he had a lot of great facts and points. alex kerkshaw your book is called against all laws. a true story of ultimate coverage and survival in world war ii. you're also the resident historian at the friends of the national world war ii memorial. that is a big memorial on the mall. but is that mean to be the resident historian of the memorial? guest: i work to try and commemorate and celebrate the greatest generation. more importantly, most of my time is spent going into high schools, most recently in virginia and trying to get young americans who know about world war ii to care about world war ii and try to unite them because i believe young americans in this country are very hopeful. i like to cut through all the negativity surrounding those issues. they are inspired profoundly

when you talk about young americans in world war ii. i point out when i see them that it was not a bunch of that made america's most respected it was young americans just like them. when you to 18 years old and say this generation did it, you can do the same. they really get it and they are inspired by it. they want to be inspired. i have often been in classrooms where ask people to put their hands up and told me -- tell me were only -- a chapter in your history that inspires you makes you feel proud to be an american. sadly sometimes they do not put their hands up but when they do put their hands up and operate chapter, it is always world war ii -- and offer a chapter, it is

always world war ii. it is the greatest chapter i believe in this nation's history and we can use it to inspire future generations. host: we're going to stop it right there.